Thursday, April 21, 2011

Flashback Friday # 28 ~ Easter

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[click on any picture to make it larger]
.. Easter is in April this year, Sunday April 24
Linda's words:

For those of you who have been doing Flashback Friday with me since the beginning, you may remember that last year we reflected on the Easter traditions of our childhood years. For those of you who are newer to this weekly meme, you are welcome to use that prompt and post about Easter memories, if you choose. For the rest of us (or all of us!), I had a different sort of Easter flashback in mind.
The new anddifferent flashback was Easter in our lives today. I will do a little of each.
Our theme then for this week: What memories do you have of Easter's place in your life growing up? And in your later years?
That was the big question Linda poised for us this week (to see others or if you want to join in with fun of writing up your experiences, please click on the icon to the right). So here goes:

The first part is easy. I do not remember one thing about my Easter in growing up. Not in the kid things like egg nor in the spiritual aspect.

I do however, remember a little of my sister's Easter. It seems we helped Mom dye eggs for her. Of course I got to eat some as hard boiled eggs were my favorite.

I also remember the time she got two ducks for Easter. That was a BIG MISTAKE as they were the messiest breed of ducks there were. One died and we could not eat the other. She also had a pair of rabbits in the same situation. I am not sure they came for Easter.

As I said I have no recall of Easter services in church, ever. Even though we were in church every Sunday, not at home nor while off to college or later in the military service can I remember a single Easter service.


Now in adult life I still do not remember any particular church service. I might remember this year's Sunday school lesson as I am teaching. But I taught last year for Easter and I can't remember it either.

I do know and subscribe to the meaning of Easter. Jesus, the Son of God, was killed as he sacrificed his life as a man here on earth for us. No matter how good we are all of us are sinners. God does not tolerate sin and the price must be paid.

That is why Jesus was born as a human (remember Christmas!) in order that later He might shed blood and die as the sacrifice that God demands for our sins. He died for all of us, as payment for our sin.

On the third day He arose back to life from His grave as written in the Bible prophecies. The Bible also goes on to tell us that if we will confess our sins in prayer to this living Jesus and ask Him to be the guide of our lives then God will forgive our sins. Also He promised that He will have a place prepared for his followers in Heaven.

This is if we will accept Jesus' sacrifice payment for us. All we have to do is pray to Jesus telling Him that we are a sinner, ask Him to forgive these sins, and promise to follow Him as best we can.

Note I said 'as best we can.' We will still be sinners and will not always stay in line with His way of a perfect and loving life. But Jesus knows this and those sins are now forgiven in advance.

That is what Easter time now means to me. It is a celebration and remembrance of what Jesus had done for us: His death (on a Friday for our tradition) and His coming back to life and leaving the grave (on Easter Sunday, three days later, for our tradition).

KP's first exposure to Easter egg hunting. At first she wanted to keep the one she picked up. Soon, though, she was chucking them all into her basket.

[Picture of empty grave with the stone rolled away with standing cross in the background courtesy of B.H. Carroll Theological Institute e-mailing. No credit was given by them.]

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# posted by Jim : 4/21/2011 10:21:00 PM  9 comments

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Fun things to do at the Woodlands, Houston, Mall — MidWeek Blues —

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Click on any picture for a larger size view. Your back button gets back to here.

We had a fun couple of hours or so to spend at the Woodlands, Houston, Mall (link) the other afternoon. Karen, Billy, and KP have been visiting us and Mrs. Jim had a need to run to the mall. It is twenty-seven miles and forty minutes towards Houston from our home. We ended up doing three fun things.

The first fun item was to visit the Disney Store. We wanted to see KP when she saw all the Mickey Mouse stuff there. That was Mrs. Jim's purpose in our coming to the Mall.
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Here she is just after giving Minnie Mouse a big hug. Of course Mickey came first but my picture of Mickey and KP only has her holding hold of Mickey's hand.
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And then NOBODY leaves the Disney Store without spending money. We bought a organic cotton tee shirt and a pair of Mickey Mouse flip-flops.
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Second on our list was to eat. After a little thinking and talking we picked Wendy's at the food court. I like Wendy's because they have free drinks for the seniors (a few offer a 10% discount instead). Mrs. Jim and KP had a vanilla Frosty of which KP drank most of it. I had a chocolate Frosty all by my self. They were both the small size.
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Also Mrs. Jim and I each had a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with lettuce but "hold-the-mayo" with a serving of BBQ sauce on the side. We shared a small order of French fries. Our free drinks were senior sized (small) Diet Cokes.
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This was a fine meal for three at the cost of one for two. We did get everything off the 'Value Meal' menu for reduced sizes and costs.
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We all decided that Wendy's should take lessons from MacDonald's in making French fries. MacDonald's definitely are the best FF's, Wendy's were probably the worst. In fact I will remember that and stay away from them next time. Generally we do not have fries but with KP we decided for the variation.

Last but not least on our list was to ride the Merry-Go-Round, or Carousel as some call it. Mrs. Jim calls it a carousel.
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KP loved her ride. We were pleasantly surprised too. This Merry-Go-Round ride is the best bargain in Houston as it only cost ONE DOLLAR for KP and Mrs. Jim was free.
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Since this was a good thing, it had to end. KP definitely was not ready for it to stop even though I suppose her ride lasted at least five minutes. It was LONG!
After the ride we bummed for a bit. Going out on the balcony was a good thing to do on a nice warm Spring day. At the end of these stores is the Valley parking area and on the other side of the few restaurants there is a stream with a boat taxi to take on around to various places in the Woodlands.
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The party was not for us but the food court was decked out for a party. I am not sure which restaurant was hosting.
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Oh yes, Since KP liked her Carousel ride so much and it was at a bargain price we all decided that one more ride with be one more good thing. This time KP opted for the green frog (it had a blue riding blanket for the MW Blues post).
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This time she didn't cry when it was over and she had to leave. But she did leave one tired little girl. The grandparents were almost that tired too.


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If you want to post a MidWeek Blues picture, go get directions from Rebecca by clicking here. She has a Mr. Linky and good directions . Just do what I did. Or do less. All she requires is a BLUE PICTURE or BLUE THOUGHT, you don't have to write.

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# posted by Jim : 4/19/2011 08:50:00 PM  8 comments

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